StoryTimed is a shared story writing site. Contribute to two different types of stories or start your own. Contribute to a Closed Book story by adding to the last posting without knowing how the story evolved from the beginning allowing for stories to take twists and turns based on author's knowledge of one piece of content. Open Stories allow authors to view stories from the beginning as they create a cohesive tale from start to finish.

In the Classroom

Create your own story on StoryTimed for your class or classes to write. Make both closed and open stories for student contributions with the same opening. Have students compare and contrast the finished stories and discuss how knowing the full story makes a difference vs just having a piece of information. Use an online tool such a Creately, reviewed here, to create a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast your finished products. Use examples of writing from the site for students to edit and view different styles of writing.

ToonyTool is a simple canvas to create a single frame cartoon easily. With ToonyTool you can add a dash of humor and create a single comic to get the message across. Choose from one of their background pictures, or upload one of your own. Create a title or type in part of your message in the Meme text bar. Choose a character or two, add a prop, and select speech bubbles to type message. Everything is easy to move around by just dragging and dropping. At the bottom of the page find tools to share and edit your comic. Share via Google, Facebook, Twitter, print, download, or email. There is no registration required.

In the Classroom

There is a multitude of ways to use comics/cartoons in the classroom. For instance, create one-page discussion starters to help students keep up with current political issues. Use comics to show sequencing of events, for example, explain the sequence of a story, a science concept, or current event! When studying about characterization, create a dialog to show (not tell) about a character. Use comic strips for literature responses. Another idea - why not use the comics for conflict resolution or other guidance issues (such as bullying). Sometimes it is easier for students to write it down (or draw the pictures) than use the actual words. Emotional support and autistic support teachers can work with students to create strips about appropriate interpersonal responses and feelings. World language and ESL/ELL teachers can assign students to create dialog strips as an alternative to traditional written assessments; summarize through a comic. Challenge students who move through other assignments more quickly to create a cartoon for review of a topic studied in class. Make a class book of the comics created throughout the year.

Use bulb as a portfolio tool to showcase your work, share ideas, and ask for feedback. Sign up with your Google account or enter your email. Choose to keep your page public or private. After creating your account, click on the little question mark on the top menu to see how to set up a page, collections (multiple pages), groups (with or without Google), and lots more. Click on Explore, on the home page in the top menu bar, and look at projects students and teachers have created. bulb is easy to use due to its drag and drop interface. The free account includes one GB storage, one Group (class), unlimited pages, and collections. Besides creating text, you can embed images and videos, and integrate with your Google Drive.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use bulb for student portfolios in any subject. Set up an account with your teacher name, email, password, and some basic information. Once your account is set up, create a group, to invite students to join the group, type in their bulb username, email address or their Google account name. Share how to get around bulb on an interactive whiteboard or with a projector to get students started. Anyone you invite can publish to the group. However, students will also have their own account and can keep pages private. Science teachers could have students write up their lab reports in a portfolio, and history teachers could set up portfolios for student report writing. Have teens and older students upload work throughout the year to create their own "me-portfolios." Create portfolios (with permission) to share younger students' work with parents and students during conferences. Use this tool to show finished projects or to show changes in a project from start to finish. Make a work prototype site and upload examples of exemplary work to share with students to set expectations for completed products before beginning a project. Create a link to this tool on your class website for students to share projects and information. (Get parent permission before posting students' work!) Have students take ownership of their own portfolios to show progress and products across several years. Have older students build portfolios to share as part of career and college preparation. Art teachers will want to share this as a portfolio option for their students.

Podcast Generator is a free download for uploading and publishing audio and video podcasts. Install the software using the three-step setup wizard to begin. The generator also includes options for customizing the appearance of podcasts using themes. Podcast Generator works on most desktops, laptops and web browsers, AND this download seamlessly integrates with the Apple store for uploading podcasts to iTunes.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Create regular or special podcasts to share on your class web page or wiki. Create a mini cast of images taken during a lab or a portfolio of images from photography, art, or any other class. Add music and share as part of a digital portfolio. Looking for even more ideas? Record class assignments or directions. Record story time or a reading excerpt for younger ones to listen to at a computer center AND from home! Have readers (perhaps older buddies) build fluency by recording selected passages for your non-readers. Launch a service project for your fifth or sixth graders to record stories for the kindergarten to use in their reading and listening center. Challenge students to create "you are there" recordings as "eyewitnesses" to historical or current events. Make a weekly class podcast, with students taking turns writing and sharing the "Class News," encourage students to create radio advertisements for concepts studied in class (Buy Dynamic DNA!). Invite students to write and record their own stories or poetry in dramatic readings. Language students or beginning readers could record their fluency by reading passages. Allow parents to hear their child's progress reading aloud, etc. Compare world language, speech articulation, or reading fluency at two points during the year. Challenge your Shakespeare students to record a soliloquy. Write and record a poem for Father's or Mother's Day (or other special events) and send the URL as a gift to that special person.

If you have gifted students who lean toward the dramatic, this tool is simple enough for them to create dramatic mini casts without needing a video camera. Have students upload their own images and write a drama to accompany them, showing what they have learned in independent learning beyond the regular curriculum.

Create impressive, interactive posters, images, infographics, charts, presentations and anything else you can think of with Genial.ly. Easily insert maps, surveys, video, audio and more. Select from a multitude of templates! Genial.ly is an all-in-one tool that will soon become your go-to tool for creating visual content. Register for the free account with email, or a Google or Facebook account, and then start creating (as many visuals as you'd like)! Share creations on different social networks, copying and pasting a link, using an HTML code to embed it in a website/blog, or sending it directly by e-mail. Click Learn at the top to find FAQs, a blog, and video tutorials. The videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

View creations for the category from which you want your students to work from and present several using a projector or on an interactive whiteboard. Show the interactivity to students. Then, create one together as a class to try out the tools (don't forget to name it). Keep it simple or add all the bells and whistles. Preview as you work or return later to complete and publish. Of course, you will want to model and teach appropriate documentation of any sources of images and media you use and to use copyrighted works legally.

There are limitless ideas for using Genial.ly in the classroom! Here are just a few: Ask students to create their own Genial.ly as a new way to assess understanding: you could even provide links to images and raw materials they may use (especially if you have students who need extra scaffolding), and they can work with them to sequence, caption, and write about the pieces. After a first project where you possibly suggest "building blocks," the sky is the limit on what they can do. Even the very young can make suggestions as you "create" a whole-class interactive together using a projector on an interactive whiteboard. Consider making a new project for each unit you teach so students can "recap" by visiting the presentation long after the unit ends. Save student projects from year to year as examples, possibly even awarding prizes for "best" examples. Have upper elementary or middle school students create an interactive project to help "little buddies" two or three grades lower to understand a concept.

Create, curate, and share web content with Wakelet. Save online links including articles, videos, tweets, and more then organize them into collections called wakes. Share collections with a personalized link or use the embed code to embed anywhere online. Use the keyword search to explore and view wakes created by other Wakelet members. Save information from other wakes to your account for use in your own wakes. To make your wakes more distinctive add a cover image, background, and choose the layout you prefer.

In the Classroom

The possibilities for using Wakelet in the classroom are endless! Create collections with tips for writing in different genres, current events, information about specific countries or cities, math games, and much more. Have students set up their own wakes as part of a research project. Put together a wake scavenger hunt to introduce a new unit or as a review at the end of a unit. Share wakes on your class web page for student use at home to review and practice class content. Having the ability to have a cover image and background for your wakes makes them much more interesting and easily identifiable, especially for the visual students!

Design posters, memes, and more without registration using Typography Editor. Use the tools from this site to create designs including borders, backgrounds, frames, and much more. When finished, save in several different formats including jpg, png, and PDF.

In the Classroom

Before assigning this tool for students to use, be sure to allow plenty of time for practice and familiarization with how to create and save designs. Use the Typography Generator as a perfect "getting to know you" activity for the beginning of the school year. Have students upload a picture of themselves doing their favorite activity and label it with a witty text or a favorite quote (or song lyric?). Have them upload a collage of images that represent their interests and character traits. Label it with an "I Am" poem. Print the images with text for a back to school bulletin board. At the end of the year, students could do a "that was then, this is now" collage with text. Have them upload a current picture doing a favorite activity, and different images that represent new interests they have learned this year. Post the images or collages side by side for spring open house night or as a year-end activity. Students could use this tool to put images with a poem they created. For ideas for images/scenes for their poems, you may want to have them use WordsEye, reviewed here. With WordsEye students can put in lines from their poem and "position" words to create a scene. Then, right click to save their scene to their device. For other uses, have students practice new words in a world language class by labeling and identifying images in that language. Create writing prompts using several annotated images. Have students create annotated images to explain key terms in science class. In ELA class, make homophone or vocabulary images to show the correct word along with an image that explains it.

Knight Lab offers a variety of tools for storytelling and promoting quality journalism. Choose the Projects tab to find all available options sorted by categories of Storytelling, Research and Reporting, Teaching and Learning, and Prototypes, Experiments, and Past Projects. Projects include examples and full instructions for using the tool in any classroom.

In the Classroom

This site is a must-have for anyone that teaches writing or assigns writing projects. Bookmark this site for use throughout the year with any writing project. Focus on one tool a month to learn more about features available. Assign a tool to different groups of students and let them become the experts. Work with peers to assign projects across subject levels using tools from this site to compare and contrast images, create interactive timelines, build story maps, and much more.

Intrigued about Augmented Reality? Use this augmented reality application to overlay any image or video over top of an image uploaded from your computer. The next step is to upload the video you want to include as the overlay. Save and share your Aura using the links provided. Demo tutorials on this provide additional information for creating and sharing Auras.

In the Classroom

Use this tool for Word Walls, overlaying images of the words or videos showing the words in action when they are scanned. Create overlays of diagrammed pictures, revealing more information for each of the elements labeled. For example, add more information about parts of the human body, elements in the periodic table, works of various artists/musicians, or battles in a war. Create an interactive journal or newspaper with simple headlines. For example, create a headline of "School play a definite smash!" and overlay a video of the play using the app. Create a poster of school rules or laboratory safety. Consider assigning groups of students the task of acting out the rules to overlay on the interactive poster. As students work towards completing material for a class, create video words of encouragement or advice to play at key points of the assignment. Or, add additional information at various points, inspired by past or present student questions about how the information relates to life. Bring the outside world in by taking videos of professionals to play when reading stories in class.

Animaker is an easy to use animated video creation tool. Create an account to begin your video and choose a template to customize. Be sure to watch the tutorials before starting to learn all of the features included with Animaker. When complete, download a video to your computer or directly to YouTube or Facebook. Free accounts allow videos up to 2 minutes in length and five exports per month. The tutorials reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. Users need the basic understanding of how to create using this tool. Work together on your interactive whiteboard to create a class video before assigning to students. Use Animaker to make commercials, science fair previews, infographics, and animated shorts in any content area. Have students make "advertisements" for an organism or a literary character. Make a travel commercial for a country being studied or for cultural sites in a world language class. Be sure to share the presentations on your projector or interactive whiteboard.

Collabrify Suite is a set of five mobile apps for use in elementary and middle school collaborative learning situations. The apps include a spreadsheet, word processor, KWL tool, whiteboard, and a mind mapping tool. Two or more students work together using their own devices to collaborate on any project either face to face or from a distance. In addition to the apps, Collabrify Suite also offers a few starter activities, called Roadmaps for download. Apps use Google logins and work best in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari browsers. The demonstration videos reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Be sure to watch the videos on the homepage for an overview of the apps in action. Download Collabrify Suite for use in your class for any collaborative project. Ask students to work in small groups to draw landforms or the water cycle in science class, gather data and create a spreadsheet for math, work together to write a story summary or share information on a KWL before the start of a new unit.

Build your own 3D spaces using CoSpaces, then view in virtual reality. Choose from the large library of items to include in your creation including characters and objects. To get a sense of how this works, visit the gallery to view creations built by CoSpace users. Register to create your account to start building your own 3D space. Be sure to visit the section for educators with many ideas on how to use CoSpaces in the classroom. Tutorials for CoSpaces reside on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Recreate scenes from books or use CoSpaces to retell any story with 3D images. Encourage creativity and ask students to develop virtual exhibitions of artwork, animal habitats, or landforms. Have older students create infographics featuring data collections, for example comparing availability of Internet in different American towns.

My Simpleshow creates dynamic and professional-looking video explanations easily (and for free!). View examples for an overview of the different available templates. Create an account using your email to make your own videos. Start by writing a script or uploading a PowerPoint. Follow Simpleshow's step-by-step directions for using templates and adding images and text to create a video. Record your own soundtrack, or choose from provided voice-overs. Simpleshow works on any device with a web browser. Simpleshow recommends uploading published videos to your YouTube account for easiest sharing. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Challenge older students to create their own Simpleshow. Have students use this tool to share their ideas or to "prototype" an idea. Students can create videos to show math processes, explanations of complex concepts, review new learning, teach others, explain scientific processes, tell stories, or present research. The possibilities are endless, and students will come up with hundreds of more uses. Flip your classroom using Simpleshow presentations. Use Simpleshow to create teacher-authored animations for students in ANY grade. This tool is an excellent way to present new information or ideas for discussion. It is an easy way to share information with the class when a substitute is in your classroom. Embed your Simpleshow creations on your website or blog for students to review at home. Use a Simpleshow video on the first day of school to explain class rules or to give an exciting introduction to the year ahead. Use Simpleshow to create presentations for back to school night or conference nights to display on your interactive whiteboard or projector.

Use Revue to create a personal email newsletter in minutes. No more tedious hours putting your newsletter together. Compose it in minutes, preview it, and schedule when you'd like it to be shared. Also, share on Twitter, Medium, Tumblr, Pocket, and RSS feeds. Revue also has a browser extension to make it easy to add to your newsletter while searching the Internet and load up content at any time. The free part of Revue allows you to have 200 subscribers. Sign up with your name and email, or Twitter, Google, or Facebook account. Be sure to check out the very thorough FAQ section.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Consider using Revue to create a daily newsletter about what students learned in class, and then present it as a recap at the beginning of the next day. Be sure to add images and charts where possible for visual students. Eventually, students could do this on their own at the end of the class. A newsletter would build an excellent learning journal and could be used to study for a test, or as a source for writing a final essay. Writing for digital publication is an important element of Common Core writing. In science and math classes, students can design a newsletter about a famous scientist or mathematician. In science class, students can develop a newsletter to explain to a younger student about cells, life cycles, or any science topic. Do an author study with the end project being a newsletter. For literature circle end projects have the group create a newsletter about the plot and characters. Create digital newsletters for any subject or topic: explain an event in history, demonstrate different types of animals or habitats. With the Revue newsletter tool, it will almost seem effortless to send home a weekly or monthly newsletter to parents with ongoing news of class activities, announcements, schedules, and more.

Flipgrid is a video discussion tool with capabilities for sharing student responses through video. Flipgrid One is the free version of Flipgrid offering the use of a single grid to incorporate the Flipgrid experience. Single grids allow users to include unlimited topics and student responses. This version also provides security settings including password protection. Begin by creating your grid and personalizing settings to fit your needs. Easy-to-follow directions guide users through the process of setting up a video response. When finished, use links to share the URL or embed your Flipgrid into a website. Students access your Flipgrid using the access code provided when sharing your topic.

In the Classroom

Flipgrid One is a versatile tool for use in any subject. Create prompts for students to respond to about anything and everything. Challenge students to reflect on their learning at the end of a unit, research project, or literature circle. Here are just a few example questions to ask: What are some things you did well on this assignment? What mistakes did you make on your last assignment that you did not make on today's assignment? What would you do differently? What would you like to learn more about?

For professional use, create a topic for peers to discuss. Ideas might include discussing concerns with implementing new technology or curriculum. Have fellow teachers share articles of interest from professional journals. Use Flipgrid One to implement a book talk on a topic of interest.

Use Flipgrid as follow up for a flipped assignment. Ask students to explain what they understand and/or still don't understand about a concept. You can review the responses before class the next day. Use it as an exit "slip" before students leave class or as a warm up at the beginning of class (what do they remember about the lesson taught yesterday). World language students can practice speaking in their new language and choose the best video to turn into their teacher. Student or teacher can explain a series of steps in an assignment or concept, one at a time (great for differentiation). Math students can explain the steps they took to solve a problem and why. Art students can explain a creation, either theirs or a famous artists, talking about techniques. Music students can perform and explain their learning, or reflect on their performance.

EasyWrite is a simple to use writing tool for creating easy to understand content. Just type your text into the text box and begin writing. EasyWrite highlights words not found in the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language. At the time of this review, EasyWrite worked best with Chrome or Mozilla FireFox.

In the Classroom

Have students use EasyWrite to retell difficult text in an easy to understand way. Retell Shakespeare passages in simple English or breakdown complicated directions into simple terms. EasyWrite is perfect for use with ESL/ELL or special education students. Choose any complex or difficult text and break it into simpler terms for easier understanding. Do this by adding a free browser extension such as Grammarly (for Chrome, Safari, and FireFox), reviewed here, or After the Deadline (for Internet Explorer), reviewed here, to classroom computers and devices. Turn the theory of EasyWrite upside down - have students paste their writing projects into EasyWrite. If there are only a few highlighted words, have them develop more interesting and complex writing passages. Have students take a screenshot of their original work to include with a final draft.

The scientific research behind WriterReader is that one develops and improves their reading skills by writing. With WriteReader kids create their own books, including text, pictures, and voice recordings. Adults/Teachers have their own space on the page to write comments and make corrections. The interface is so simple even a young child can use it successfully after some adult guidance. Register with email or your Google account and find a downloadable Teachers Guide, a Parent Letter, and a Lesson Plan online to get kids started with WriteReader. Click Add a class and enter students manually, or students can join the class with a class code. Languages available are US English, UK English, Dansk (Danish) and Svenska (Swedish). There is also an introductory video that will help everyone get started. This video resides on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Freemake Video Converter, reviewed here, to download the video from YouTube.

In the Classroom

WriteReader is so simple very young students can use it successfully after a demonstration using a whiteboard or projector. While creating their books students will be able to add images, multiple pages and delete pages, include voice-over, use color on the pages, view one page at a time or the entire book, and toggle between letters' names/sounds or no audio. Use this tool to design simple projects using student drawings to tell the story. At the beginning of the year have students draw and annotate stories to tell about their summer and share with classmates. Students of any age love to draw, so why not have them draw their impression of what the message to the reader was after hearing a story and then explain it in writing? ESL/ELL students especially will benefit from hearing the letter sounds as they are beginning to write in their new language.

Create and design custom labels with Labeley. Choose from shapes, borders, backgrounds, and more to create your image. You need to create an account to save and work with finished designs. Once logged in, save your label and use provided links to share through social networking options. Another option for saving while logged in is to right click and save directly to your computer.

In the Classroom

Have students create images in Labeley to add to book reports and multimedia projects. Have students upload a picture of themselves doing their favorite activity and label it with amusing text or a favorite quote (or song lyrics?). Have them upload images that represent their interests and character traits using 4 Free Photos, reviewed here, from the public domain, or Morguefile, reviewed here, creative images freely contributed without concern about copyright. Of course, proper credit must be given. Create a picture for a character from a story and add text descriptions of character traits. For other uses, have students practice new words in a world language class by labeling and identifying images in that language. Create writing prompts using several annotated images. Have students create annotated images to explain key terms in science class.

Tolks is a simple storytelling tool. Create an account using your Facebook or Twitter profile. Choose characters (or upload an image). Don't forget to delete the "dummy images." Next, add dialogue, by deleting the text in the default box, then preview and edit or save. Simple! Share your Tolk using the URL or links to Facebook or Twitter.

In the Classroom

For younger students, consider creating a class account for Tolks. Have students create Tolks to discuss literature, such as a conversation between characters or descriptions of feelings. Create Tolks to share on an interactive whiteboard or projector as lesson starters or display at the end of a lesson with characters discussing key information from a lesson. Upload images of shapes and have them compare and contrast features. World language students can create simple conversations in the language they are learning, or label pictures for vocabulary. You will find many uses for Tolks in your classroom! Counselors may want to have students create a Tolk to share information that may be difficult to discuss in person. Of course, be very careful not to share private information.

Google CS First is a program for clubs to increase access and teach computer science to 4th-8th-grade students. All training and materials are free for anyone hosting a club in the U.S. Materials offer lessons based on themes such as storytelling, sports, social media, friends, and fashion and design. In addition to lesson materials, Google CS provides online training information for club leaders.

In the Classroom

Create a club in your classroom as part of your STEM activities, as a lunch/recess club, or an at-home activity for students. Use the flyers and presentation materials provided to create interest in the club. Differentiate clubs by student interests and abilities. Share Google CS First with your school's media or tech leader as an excellent resource for teaching coding. This site is perfect for those who want to learn more about coding, but have some hesitancy since all materials from creating a group through the lessons are free. If you still have some doubts, enlist the services of a tech-savvy high school student to help with activities as part of their volunteering requirements.